Bill Schudt

Biography

Bill Schudt (1906-'84) was one of television's first programmers, as director of CBS experimental station W2XAB from 1931-'33. His career-long association with the network began in public relations at predecessor company A.H. Grebe, acquired by CBS in 1928. As a publicist, copywriter, and on-air personality, he appeared on his own CBS radio program, "Going to Press," which interviewed notable journalists. In 1931, Schudt took over as television supervisor, opening W2XAB's low definition video schedule with an intimate program including George Gershwin, radio's Boswell Sisters, and New York's mayor Jimmy Walker. One of only two paid staff in CBS television, Schudt announced and arranged every program, auditioned talent, and oversaw innovations in broadcast technique, making the most of a very limited technology. The W2XAB audience was hobbyists and experimenters, some thousands of miles distant, tuning in over the shortwave bands used by mechanically scanned television. Views of soloists or small groups were all that was practical. Among Schudt's program ideas were "The Television Ghost," a dramatic monologue in bizarre make-up that took advantage of the unearthly look of the early picture, and exhibition boxing bouts, held in a ring scaled down to the vest pocket studio atop the CBS Building. CBS closed W2XAB in 1933 when it became obvious that the newly developed electronic technology would define the medium. Bill Schudt was named manager of O&O station WBT, Charlotte, the hub of CBS's Dixie Network. Later, he became manager of WKRC, Cincinnati, and eventually director of affiliate relations for CBS radio and TV, retiring from the network in 1966. Although Schudt wrote several news and magazine pieces during CBS' mechanical TV period, he apparently never spoke of his pioneering role in later years, possibly because the network preferred not to acknowledge its early experiments.